Weekly Must-Watch List: Third Edition

THIS WEEK’S PICKS BY SCOTTIE KNOLLIN

This week’s Must-Watch List is in direct response to the long-gestating but recently reignited, fight against racism in America. One way to understand the plight of Blacks in America is to be exposed to their experiences through art, films, books, and music by Black artists. Empathy comes from understanding. Change comes from listening. Black Lives Matter.

13TH
(Netflix)
The Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution was adopted in 1865, abolishing slavery throughout the United States. But, in Ava DuVernay’s captivating and enlightening documentary, she contends that slavery has continued through other means of involuntary servitude than just that of “traditional” slaves: arresting poor freedmen to work for the state under convict leasing; suppressing African Americans by disenfranchisement; lynchings and Jim Crow; the “war on drugs,” which weighs more heavily on minority communities; and, mass incarceration of people of color. DuVernay’s masterful storytelling techniques help present the analyzation of generations of oppression in a form that’s easy to digest, but still just as troubling.

I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
(Kanopy)
Directed by Raoul Peck and based on James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember This House, this documentary explores the history of racism in the United States through Baldwin’s own observations. Beyond just his personal experiences, Baldwin also adds commentary to the leaders of the Civil Rights era: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr.

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
(Hulu)
Adapting James Baldwin’s narrative tales into feature films is a hard task. Barry Jenkins did so with aplomb. Though it may not be as effective of a film as his previous, Oscar-winning Moonlight, it is still a striking and beautiful portrait of the struggles of Black Americans fighting for injustice. As a tale, it’s a vulnerable and intimate view of a perspective not often seen on film. Regina King turns in a remarkable (and Oscar-winning) performance. The score is heart-wrenching.

THE BLOOD OF JESUS
(Criterion Collection)
This 1941 race film is written by, directed by, and stars Spencer Williams, one of the earliest voices in Black Film. A spiritual, morality tale, the film earned commercial success in both movie houses and black churches. It not only serves as an early example of folk cinema, but also as a time capsule on the early 20th century Southern Baptist ideology and southern Black culture. In 1991, it became the first race film to be added to the U.S. National Film Registry.

BLACKKKLANSMAN
(HBO Now)
It may not be Spike Lee’s best film or even most effective, but it does serve as a fantastic commentary on today’s culture. It’s an entertaining telling of a true story that’s part of America’s most astonishing stain. Though the content of the story, and the performances to boot, are eye-opening, it’s Lee’s use of real footage during the film’s epilogue that will (or, at least, should) render any viewer speechless. If you think racism and civil rights are problems of the past, allow this film to help shape a new point of view.